Gravel rash

[oneten]

Once when I came off in Wales I sustained some fairly deep gravel rash on my left elbow which bore the brunt of the impact and gravel slide. A passing midwife and her husband kindly took me and the bike and gear back to their house where she removed the gravel and dirt with warm salty water then put on a temporary bandage. They then kindly drove me to the campsite and next day I attended the local GP Surgery's treatment room. Because the wound was weeping a clear fluid and was quite deep, they applied a hydrocolloid dressing. These dressings reduce the risk of infection, effectively sealing the wound from the air and keeping it moist and flexible. I could see where the graze had been bleeding through underneath the dressing and was told that it was normal and to leave it for a couple of days before going back to have it changed. Same again, a fresh hydrocolloid patch. Apparently they are the same sort of thing that are used for burns. The elbow healed in time and was relatively comfortable with that kind of dressing. The bruising to my shoulder and collarbone area was a sight to behold ( exaggerated no doubt because I take Warfarin).
https://www.clhgroup.co.uk/news-article ... e-each/258

[francovendee]

Bejesus! Scrubbing the wound and you'd have to get me off the ceiling

[profpointy]

If you don't , the skin will grow over it and fester.

I still have a blue scar just below my knee from a childhood bike fall. Clearly my immune system or whatever was strong enough to fight off any infection.
I have heard that miners often have such blue scars, from coal left in wounds.

Most of my great uncles had the "coal tattoos" as they seemed to me. Not something you see much these days, but a doctor friend of mine had it come up on her practical exam (or whatever it's called). She surprised the examiner by knowing what it was, being relative young and not from South Wales.

I guess coal is "clean" so doesn't matter much if it gets in cuts.

[meejozzz]

Freeflow, I can confirm they still do this. I had an incident with a rather invisible unmarked speedhump last year which I encountered at precisely 24.8mph. After I’d literally flown over the bars and bounced along the road a few times I was scooped up and taken to A&E to have my gravel rash ‘tidied up’. They also scanned my liver as they thought I may have pierced my liver with my handlebars. I can only describe it as agony to have the multiple rashes scrubbed with a Brillo pad dipped in some kind of surgical spirit. They let the most junior nurse do the deed and the poor trainee was in tears. How we all laughed as they waited until the morphine wore off before she started the scrubbing. I’ve got some lovely battle scars now though, although I should be grateful they removed every bit of gravel before the healing process began. Well, the physical healing at least.

[francovendee]

Freeflow, I can confirm they still do this. I had an incident with a rather invisible unmarked speedhump last year which I encountered at precisely 24.8mph. After I’d literally flown over the bars and bounced along the road a few times I was scooped up and taken to A&E to have my gravel rash ‘tidied up’. They also scanned my liver as they thought I may have pierced my liver with my handlebars. I can only describe it as agony to have the multiple rashes scrubbed with a Brillo pad dipped in some kind of surgical spirit. They let the most junior nurse do the deed and the poor trainee was in tears. How we all laughed as they waited until the morphine wore off before she started the scrubbing. I’ve got some lovely battle scars now though, although I should be grateful they removed every bit of gravel before the healing process began. Well, the physical healing at least.

That made me cringe. Definitely going to take extra care, at least until the thought of scrubbing the wound wears off!

[nez]

You used to be able to buy spray iodine for grazes. Not exactly painless but effective

[Jdsk]

There isn't a simple answer for when to use iodine. And there's a range of different chemicals and preparations.

I don't use them for gravel rash and similar.

But I think that they have an important rôle in management of chronic and infected wounds.

Jonathan

[hamster]

I run a warm shower (not hot), then get under with the nailbrush and scrub. It's not a bundle of laughs, carrying on until it's all pink and clean. Sudocrem afterwards, then a modern non-stick dressing on top.

[nez]

There isn't a simple answer for when to use iodine. And there's a range of different chemicals and preparations.

I don't use them for gravel rash and similar.

But I think that they have an important rôle in management of chronic and infected wounds.

Jonathan

Thanks very much for that advice, Jonathan. I'm so old (67) I think these things were just used in a rather cruder way in my youth!

[Jdsk]

Yes. Your parents probably had tincture of iodine around. My grandfather used it for all known conditions.

The fear of infection was enormous... a lot of the population had seen healthy people die.

And now we're running out of antibiotics...

Jonathan

[nez]

You're right - my father had an older sister die at 16 of scarlet fever and a brother die as a small child from I don't know what. This is in the middle of London about 1930. My parents house was kept so scrubbed clean I was amazed when I went to a grammar school how dirty middle class houses were. They weren't really dirty, just not scrubbed all round every day like ours. In the flats where we lived the wives took turns scrubbing all the stairs and landings with disinfectant.

[Pendodave]

I've just come back from a trip where a large patch of gravel in a nasty location caused a moderately dramatic off/slide.
Now I'm home in one piece, I'm reviewing what pieces of first aid equipment/treatment would have been most helpful, as I'm sure that it'll happen again.
A couple of things that I would appreciate feedback on :
Do hydrocolloid patches offer a distinct advantage over dry non-stick dressings like melolin? The obvious one is that the wound would no longer require re-dressing every 24hours, but I wonder if there is a balancing downside I should be aware of.
Are 'wound healing gels' a better option than standard antiseptic creams? For example savlon wound healing gel vs 'normal' savlon.
Thanks

[axel_knutt]

I had a 1" x 3" patch of gravel rash after a crash. I started by trying to pick it out one grain of grit at a time, but after several minutes of that, punctuated by wincing and grimacing, I decided I was getting nowhere fast, so I got the nailbrush and scrubbed it. It only took about two seconds to get the whole wound spotless.

It's a bit like jumping in the deep end of the swimming pool instead of gingerly creeping down the steps.

[axel_knutt]

If you don't , the skin will grow over it and fester.

I still have a blue scar just below my knee from a childhood bike fall. Clearly my immune system or whatever was strong enough to fight off any infection.
I have heard that miners often have such blue scars, from coal left in wounds.

I had dirt under the skin on one of my fingers from when I was working on the car, and a bit too squeamish to clean the cut. After 46 years it's gone now, but it was visible for well over 30 years.

[rogerzilla]

Chainring teethmarks on your leg can take years to come out - oil gets pushed in.